Life Force (NES) review

"If you have seen the movie Silent Hill then you may remember the moment before Rose descends into the underground labyrinth to confront the so-called "demon". She stands briefly before a map, closes her eyes, and attempts to commit the path she must follow through those winding halls to her memory. Her experiences thus far in the film have taught her to expect any assortment of horrifying abominations to obstruct her way, thus any misstep she might make would likely result in her death...."

If you have seen the movie Silent Hill then you may remember the moment before Rose descends into the underground labyrinth to confront the so-called "demon". She stands briefly before a map, closes her eyes, and attempts to commit the path she must follow through those winding halls to her memory. Her experiences thus far in the film have taught her to expect any assortment of horrifying abominations to obstruct her way, thus any misstep she might make would likely result in her death. Fast forward a few moments to Rose in the labyrinth and confronted with a hoard of monsters that look like something out of Carl Jung's big book of terrifying archetypes. As she attempts to walk carefully through the ranks of these creatures, they come to life and thrash violently in all directions. Relying on reflexes, agility, and impossible luck, Rose succeeds in dodging all blows and escapes the ambush without suffering a single blow.

Lifeforce is just like that -- except you die repeatedly and run out of lives before reaching the end of that hallway.

Though based on the Japanese game Salamander, Lifeforce was heavily modified and actually resembles Gradius more than it resembles its source material. It utilizes the same Gradius-style power-up system, complete with those ever adorable options that mimic your every movement and action. Unlike Gradius your death's do not result in a rebirth that violates space and time by transporting you back to some check point. The enemy armada cannot be defeated like that and Lifeforce knows this, thus it plops you right back into the steadily scrolling screen without any transition. If you are quick, you can even recover your cuddly options before they scroll out of your life forever. With unlimited continues and the 30 lives granted by the Konami code, a poor player can suffer the sting of repeated deaths and still complete a level.

But that would make you a coward.

Did the Vic Viper just continue a level when he died and cheat his way through Gradius? Never -- he returned to a sacred checkpoint and continued from there without any power-ups. You have been given a chance to continue like the Vic Viper never had, but all the lives in the world were not going to get you through Lifeforce until you memorize the location of every enemy that would assault you and can successfully navigate all flying threats that stand between you and the boss that awaits you.

Speaking of bosses, Lifeforce has them and they hate you. The levels won't be kind to you either. They are so different from those found in Salamander that it would be more accurate to call Lifeforce a game unto itself rather than an arcade to NES port. There are six levels in total, and while one might think that the final stage would be the most difficult, Konami has made a fool of your expectations by ramping up the difficulty of the third level instead. Hellfire birds dive at you, bursting into fireballs (that also dive at you) when you attempt to shoot them down, dragons breath sulfurous ash while flying around you in literal circles, and overwhelming rocks assault you from all directions while arches of lava burst forth from the sides of those impossible screens. This level is the true test of your worth. If you are fast enough to dodge those unholy things and clever enough to recall the precise movements your ship must take, you may survive this romp in the fire with all your power-ups intact. One death here and you will lose your coveted "speed up" allocations and, likely, your metaphorical coin as you arrive at the game over screen.

Yet despite all your deaths, all the frustration, all the repeated attempts, and the hopelessness that will inevitably consume you while playing Lifeforce, it is an experience that you will cherish. When you are cruising through a level, flippantly blasting away leagues of foes, humming the undeniably catchy music that accompanies every level, scrutinizing every pixel of the most aesthetically pleasing images the NES could create, everything just seems to click and the experience becomes beautiful. Until you die and lose all your power-ups. But when that happens, you will have already tasted that sweet success that awaits the patient player, and you will be compelled to continue with your quest and to refine your skills. With less investment of your time than you might think, you will master Lifeforce's levels and succeed on your indiscriminate elimination of all moving 8-bit objects. If you didn't feel inadequate enough from all your deaths the first time, you can cycle through the game up to four times with increasing difficulty. Seldom do all the elements that make the shooting genre great come together so perfectly in one game.

A cosmic snake is threatening the Universe of your NES and the only way to defeat it is to navigate your lonely ship through through the unfriendly alien armada. A lone controller sits at your feet. You know what you must do.

This is an arcade port done right, adapted to the target platform's strength and limitations rather than simply making the assembly code run.

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